Playroom



D. M. WARREN Dec. l, 1936.

PLAYROOM Filed Jan. 2, 1934 f l n Y /mi 1 Wwf? 6 Patented Dec. 1, 1936 UNITED Srsrss PATENT ".,OFIFm-Q;

Donald M. Warren, West Lafayette, Ind.

Application January 2, 1934, Serial No. 704,830

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improver'n'ents` in lplay rooms and more particularly to doll-house-like simulations of various rooms in which children v may arrange toy furniture. The main Aobjects of the invention are to provide a play room'con- 'struction of the type referred to which may be vproduced and sold at low cost` without making the room too-small to accommodate toy furniture and other equipment of'fair size.

`Another object of'theinvention is'to provide a play room construction of the typek referred to which may be made of inexpensive'light material, for example, cardboard of a fairly stiff variety, while -at the same-time 'producingva quite rigid structure; to provide an arrangement in which a plurality of the rooms may vadvantageously be stacked one upon the yother; and in general, it is the object lof the invention to provide an irnprovedplayroom structure-of the type referred to.

Other objects 'and advantages will be understood by reference vto the following specification and accompanying drawing in which there is illustrated a play room embodying a selected form of the invention.

T n the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective;

Fig. 2 is a perspective of fragmentary portions of the construction in detached relation;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are end and front views respectively showing a plurality of the room structures stacked one on the other.

Referring now to the drawing, the improved play room structure includes a box section 6 which is preferably one portion of a box, for example, the bottom section, in which the play room structure is adapted to be packaged for transportation and sales purposes. The box section 6 embodies a bottom wall l and depending edge flanges 8. The box section is inverted and a side Wall 9 and end Walls I0, II) respectively are arranged on the inverted box bottom.

The box bottom is provided with a series of openings such as indicated at II in alignment with the bottom edges of the respective walls 9 and I0, I0, the openings being preferably of triangular or other shape which provides pointed or other similar end portions I2, I2, for a purpose which will presently appear. The side and end walls are each provided with a series of ears I3 50 which depend from their lower edges and are adapted to project through the respectively aligned op-enings II, II. The ears I3 are of such width that they will be a force fit through the longest dimensions of the openings I I and the pointed or 55 similarly shaped corner portions of these openings CII will tend to effectively grip the tongues sok as to hold the side and end'walls in assembled relation to the b'ox bottom. It has been found that tongues and openings of the'type referred to are particularly satisfactory because of the effective grip-ping of the tongues, with the result that the component parts of the playy room will not readily become separated.

The side Wall 9 and the rear edges v of the respective end walls Ill, Hl are also connectedby means of `openingsy I'I in the side Wall and tongues i3 projecting from the rear edges of the respective end walls,'these tongues land openings being similar to those just described for conne-cti'ng' the respective-walls to the bottom. d

In some instances, itis preferred to arrange the end Walls I0, IB at an angle'to each other, ias clearly shown infFig. l. By reference to Fig-3, it Willbe seen that by soarranging-the end walls,

the rearwardly projecting tonguesl-'S thereof will ,I

be disposed at oppositely inclined angles relative to the side tvallf'S, so that in addition toathe `normal gripping action of the openings on the tongues I3, there will be a lock incident to the inclined relation of the tongues. the parts together willbe especially advantageous Where conventional tongue and slot connections are used for connecting the various parts.

On the interior sides of the Walls 9 and I0, I0, representations of room furnishings and trim may desirably be supplied. For example, panel moldings, as indicated at I4, and base-board and cove moldings, as indicated at I5 and I6 respectively, may be indicated by printing in suitable colors or otherwise. tions, including curtains and drapes and punchedout openings, if desired, may be provided as indicated generally at I1. Pictures may be indicated as at I8 and a fire-place or other article may be represented by printing or otherwise., as indicated at I9. On the bottom 'I of the box section, there may be represented ai rug 2u and a portion of a iire-place, as indicated at 2l. On the outside surface of the Walls, there may be representations of wood siding, as indicated at 22, or any other form of exterior house construction, and on such portions of the box bottom 'I as are outside of the walls, there may be a` representation of brick or other flooring, as indicated at 23. f

It will be seen by reference to Fig. 1 that the walls are so arranged Aand of such dimensions that the spacing between the front edges of the end walls I0, I0 with respect to each other and with respect to the corresponding end edges of the side Wall 9 is such that the various edges This feature of locking Also, window representa- 3 referred to will approximately t Within the depending anges of another inverted box bottom constituting the base or floor portion of another play room. Accordingly, a series of the rooms may be stacked on one another, as clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The close tting arrangement of the walls of one room within the base of the room immediately above will, of course, serve to maintain the parts in properly aligned assembled relation. Alignment of a plurality of the rooms, stacked on one anotherQmay also be obtained, without regard to the fit of the ends of the various walls within the depending flanges of a box bottom, by reason of the alignment of the depending tongues I3 on the upper edges of the walls of the room below. The depending tongues, which project through the floor, may be flexed slightly as indicated at Fig. 4, so as to overlap the wall portions below, and the tongues of each wall may, of course, be bent to fit alternately on opposite sides of the respective walls of the room below.v The cover 24 of one of the boxes may ybe placed on top of the uppermost room to represent a roof and its uppermost surface may be suitably decorated for this purpose.

The described structure may be made entirely of heavy paper board and because of the firm connections resulting from the tongue and opening connections described and the particular arrangement of the parts, the structure is quite rigid. Also, because of the low cost of the material entering into the construction of the play room, a fairly large sized room may be made for selling at comparatively low prices.

The described structure may be changed without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claims, the same being construed as broadly as possible consistent with the state of the art.

I claim:

1. In a play room of the class described, the

combination of a, box section including depending peripheral flanges, a side wall extending upwardly from said box section adjacent one edge thereof and end walls extending upwardly from said box section and transversely of said side wall, and detachable tongue and opening connections between said side and end walls and between said walls and the box section, the box section and the side wall having openings and the end walls each having tongues depending from their lower edges for engaging the openings in the box section and each end wall also having tongues extending rearwardly therefrom to engage the openings in said side Wall, whereby the parts are held together in assembled relation, the end walls being disposed in inwardly and rearwardly inclined relation towards each other so that the tongues on the rear edges thereof are in oppositely inclined relation to the plane of said side wall, thereby, in effect, locking the side wall to the end walls against detachment therefrom bynormal rearward force on said back wall.

2. In a play room of the class described, the combination of a box section including depending peripheral flanges, a side Wall extending upwardly from said box section adjacent one edge thereof and end Walls extending upwardly from said box section and transversely of said side wall, said walls having normally substantially horizontal, coplanar top edges, and detachable connections between said side and end walls and between said walls and the box section, the connections between said walls and box section comprising tongues depending from each of said walls and the box section having openings through which saidtongues are adapted to project, said tongues being of suiiicient length .to extend beyond. the lower face of the box section and so as to be adapted to engage the upper marginal portion of the walls of another similar play room disposed y thereunder for vertically aligning the play rooms.

DONALD M. WARREN. 

